More watches being melted for gold as prices soar
An increasing number of gold watches are being melted down in response to the skyrocketing price of the precious metal.
This is according to an in-depth piece by Reuters, which sourced the opinion of several industry experts on the matter.
It cites an example from Jon White of British company Gold Traders, who melted down an 18-carat late-1970s Omega Constellation, saying that the price it achieved (£5,750 / $7,749) was 35% higher than it was estimated to get at auction.
The article says that World Gold Council data shows that overall gold recycling in the first quarter of this year rose 5% to 366 tonnes.
“I’ve seen a lot of totally mediocre watches get melted down,” James Lamdin, founder of Watches of Switzerland Group-owned second-hand platform Analog Shift, told Reuters. “There’s a lot of unsold overstock in the Swiss market. And those watches are basically brand new, unworn, and they’re just getting stripped down. They made too many of them.”
As watch journalist Rachael Taylor wrote for Watch Insider earlier this year, some timepieces are more at risk of being melted down than others.
“Certain brands, where the value of the gold has now outstripped the value of the watch, [are being scrapped],” said Christophe Hearn, vintage watch specialist at WeBuyVintage, a platform dedicated to buying all manner of vintage goods from the public for resale, including jewellery and watches. “Lower-end luxury brands that may not have had the same grey-market value as brands like Rolex and Cartier are probably hit the most by this — for example, Longines and Rotary.
“Vintage watches over 20 years old where the value of the metal has overtaken the value of the items are most certainly being scrapped for gold, sadly,” he concluded.
